Can cell therapy heal a spinal cord injury

Study design: Literature survey. Objectives: To summarize and discuss current possibilities and success rates for the treatment of spinal cord injury in animal models. Settings: University of Antwerp, Belgium. Methods: We searched Pubmed for publications from 1997 onwards. Seven older papers were used for completion of data. Results: Despite major progress in pharmacological and surgical approaches, a spinal cord injury still remains a very complex medical and psychological challenge, both for the patients and their relatives, as well as for the involved physicians, with currently no existing curative therapy. For a future efficient treatment, one has to consider and combine four main approaches: (1) tissue or cell transplantation, (2) providing growth-stimulating factors (neurotrophic factors), (3) blocking factors which inhibit neural regeneration and (4) modulation of inflammatory response following spinal cord injury. Conclusions: Although different treatment options have proven to be successful in animal models, they also provide a realistic view on a complex therapeutical approach, which needs to be further investigated in many carefully designed animal studies before human applications can be considered.